MOSCOW: Murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya had received threats for years and saw suspicious figures in her stairwell in her final days, her family told the trial over the killing on Thursday.

Her son Ilya Politkovsky said that his mother - an outspoken critic of the Kremlin's war in Chechnya - had received threatening messages for five years before being shot to death in 2006.

"Mum tried to protect the family from such information but she had spoken to people at the newspaper in whom she had confidence," he said, referring to the bi-weekly Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked.

"She had already been receiving messages for five years, very often at that time. Often criminal investigations were ordered as a result of her reports," he added in witness testimony.

He also fondly remembered his mother: "She made a big distinction between family and work and she was a very good mother."

Although four men are on trial charged with assisting the murder, Russian authorities have yet to find the triggerman or reveal who they believed ordered the killing.

The journalist's daughter Vera Politkovskaya said her mother had been aware before her death of strangers standing in the entrance to her apartment building who appeared not to be the drunks who usually loiter in such places.

"She saw people on the staircase who she had never seen before and who did not smell of alcohol," said Vera.

"I said that I could not understand who these people were as they did not seem to be alcoholics and told her to be careful."

Politkovskaya died minutes after being shot in the head and body on October 7, 2006 in the stairwell of her apartment building when she was returning from a shopping trip, a crime that caused outrage in Russia and internationally.

The hearings are being held in a military court because one of the accused, Pavel Ryaguzov, is a former lieutenant colonel of the Federal Security Service, formerly known as the KGB, who is being tried on charges of abuse of office.

Another defendant, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, is a former police officer. The two other defendants, Chechen brothers Ibragim and Dzhabrail Makhmudov, are accused of having shadowed Politkovskaya before her killing.

According to chilling images recorded by security cameras and shown in court on Thursday an unidentified man went every day to the building from October 3, four days before the killing.

He went in a little before the journalist came home every day and when she went out to walk her dog to come back a few minutes later they passed by each other.

On the day of the killing, he entered the building 10 minutes before Politkovskaya came back with her shopping and then came out a minute after the fatal shots.

Ilya Politkovsky said he spoke to his mother for the last time when she was shopping at the Ramstore supermarket chain and she asked him to come to her home to help carry up the shopping.

"When I was on my way I tried to phone her several times but she did not pick up her mobile."

"When I arrived I saw that everything had been cordoned off. The police were there along with an ambulance. When they saw who I was they told me everything. But they did not let me pass through."

On Tuesday, a defence lawyer said case files revealed that the person who ordered the killing was a Russian politician based inside the country, but added that there was no specific identification of this person. - AFP/de